Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Zalmo slowly moved his hands to block the spot where Akira was aiming his rifles. He then smiled rather smugly and said.

“Those rifles are both empty, right? I bet you’ve used all the ammo in that barrage in order to kill us. But then, that was not enough to kill me. Although you’re aiming them at me, it’s nothing but a bluff to keep me away, right? I bet bullets won’t come out even if you pull the trigger.”

Akira’s expression did not change at all.

“I wonder now, I might have left some ammo inside.”

“Who would give such a vague answer? If they still have some ammo in, you could have just told me so. To be honest, my augmented suit is not strong enough to defend myself from armour piercing ammo, that’s why I used those two men as shields.”

“Then why did you throw them away?”

“Of course, it’s so that they won’t slow me down when I try to evade the bullets. They’re all already riddled with holes, there’s no meaning in using them as shields anymore. That’s why it’s better to keep my feet light, no?”

Zalmo slowly but surely walked toward Akira, who walked backwards with Zalmo’s every step.

Zalmo smiled confidently.

“What’s wrong? You won’t shoot? You still have some ammo left, right? Or is that you’re afraid you won’t be able to hit me from this distance?”

Akira still had the same expression as he replied.

“I’m still looking for an opening. If you can predict when I pull the trigger, you’ll be able to evade. I don’t have much ammo left so I can’t do indiscriminate shooting, I have to make sure to kill you with my shot.”

Zalmo was still approaching Akira slowly and Akira was also walking backwards equally slowly. Both of them eventually reached the middle of the room.

This time it was Akira who threw a question to Zalmo.

“How about you? You’re not going to use your rifle? You could’ve run away, hid somewhere, and readied your rifle when you still had your shields, no?”

historical

“Actually, you destroyed my rifle during that barrage just now. There was some leftover destroyed rifle back then, right? If I had tried to run away back then, you would have reloaded a new magazine in your rifle and used it to shoot at me. There’s nowhere for me to hide in the middle of the hallway, so that would have been a very bad decision.”

“Shouldn’t you keep it a secret about your broken rifle? If I thought that you would shoot back, I wouldn’t immediately choose to chase you, right?”

“You could have noticed that only by looking at my destroyed rifle. It’s easy to notice that on the ground after all. I know that you want to keep your distance from me, but just so you, that won’t work.”

The tension between them heightened. Both of them kept their eyes on each other as not to miss even the slightest move. The critical point was close.

Akira once again threw a question.

“You look pretty strong, honestly, I don’t want to die. If I tell you that I don’t mind letting you go, what are you going to do?”

“Well, I don’t want to die either, so I’ll thankfully take that offer. So, can you put down your rifle so I can feel safe leaving this place?”

“No.”

“They’re just empty rifles anyway, right? There won’t be much difference even if you put them down.”

“...Like I said, they’re not empty.”

Zalmo stopped pressing forward, so Akira also stopped walking backwards. Both of them understood that the fight would start soon.

Zalmo suddenly dashed toward Akira, he decided not to run to his left nor right, but straight at Akira. Akira fixed his aim at Zalmo, if his rifles were really not empty, Zalmo would not be able to evade his shots.

Akira pulled the trigger on both of his rifles, bullets flew straight out from both barrels. Back then during the barrage, Alpha stopped Akira mid-way to leave some bullets in the magazine when it looked like he had used up all of his ammo.

Akira was not bluffing, just like what Zalmo thought.

Zalmo fully predicted that both of Akira’s rifles still had some bullets left. When bullets flew out from their muzzles, Zalmo had accurately predicted their trajectories, he quickly raised both of his hands as if to block those bullets.

Then, at the next moment, a bright light flashed, the force field armour changed the kinetic energy of the bullets into photons.

Both of Zalmo’s arms were equipped with portable force field armour.

The smaller the force field armour area of effect, the shorter its duration, the stronger it became. Since Zalmo only deployed the force field armour on a small area just enough to block the incoming bullets, it was enough to completely kill the momentum of the incoming bullets.

The blinding flashing light from Zalmo’s force field armour made Akira flinch for a split second, but that was enough for Zalmo to close their distance as he released a kick aimed at Akira’s head. Akira was not using anything on his head, a clean hit of Zalmo’s kick would send his head flying.

Akira looked completely surprised by Zalmo’s force field armour, his expression showed his shock and he was unable to react for the time being. Zalmo noticed that and was sure that it was his victory.

[Got him!]

But Zalmo’s kick cleanly cut through the air, Akira was able to quickly duck as if his body was sucked in and evade Zalmo’s kick.

Akira was down low right in front of Zalmo, he then released a swift kick as if to sweep Zalmo’s leg off the ground. But Zalmo lightly jumped off and evaded Akira’s sweep, while at the same time, he brought down his other leg that was still dangling in front of him to Akira’s head. Akira quickly rolled back and stood up.

The short exchange ended there, Akira and Zalmo returned to their initial position. Akira had already thrown away his rifle in the middle of that short exchange, he was now unarmed. Akira lightly tightened his fist and readied his stance, in reaction to that, Zalmo stretched his hand and also readied his stance.

Zalmo then said to Akira mockingly.

“Geez, you’re no fun at all. You really shot someone who jumped straight at you thinking that you have no ammo left. Could you like, you know, get surprised even for a bit? I’m sure you didn’t expect I was able to block them, right? Are you actually a machine or something?”

In contrast to Zalmo, Akira had a grim expression when he replied.

“Didn’t I tell you that I have no leeway for something like that? Or did you already forget about it?”

Zalmo was still looking mockingly at Akira, but it quickly changed to a relaxed smile as if he was looking down at Akira.

“...Well, that doesn’t really matter, it should take effect anytime soon.”

Zalmo had an accelerator drug ready inside his body, it was set so that he could use accelerator drug anytime only by sending the command using his mind. It was a slow-reacting accelerator drug that had a strong effect. Once it was in effect, the drug would significantly boost his focus and perception, thus slowing down the passage of time from his point of view while keeping his disposition calm. Zalmo already activated the accelerator drug, the silly talk with Akira was only to buy some time until the drug took effect.

Zalmo could feel the drug had already taken effect for real, he lightly smirked and said.

“Die!”

With that signal, Akira and Zalmo stopped talking and restarted the fight.

Akira and Zalmo used the full force of their enhanced strength to fight each other, releasing a flurry of attacks with their arms and legs to the vital points of their respective opponent.

Zalmo had superb reaction time thanks to the accelerator drug while Akira had his time compression from his sheer willpower as well as Alpha’s support to move his augmented suit. They were fighting at a speed that no normal human could follow.

A single clean hit was all it needed to kill their opponent, they were continuously throwing attacks at each other while evading the attacks coming at them. It was as if both of them had made prearrangement beforehand, both of them prioritized evading and did not even try to block the attacks. After all, it was hard to judge how powerful an attack with the enhanced strength of the augmented suit was. If they made a blunder trying to block an attack, it might easily tear their limbs, that was why they had no other choice but to evade.

Akira gritted his teeth, he looked like he was having a hard time.

[Too fast!! Although it already took all of me to match the movement of my augmented suit that Alpha is controlling, he is still able to properly react to it! He did say something taking effect though, is it an accelerator drug!? How long before his accelerator drug loses its effect!? Can I survive until then?!]

Thanks to Akira’s time compression, he managed to follow the movement of his augmented suit. By following the movement of his augmented suit during a high-speed fight, he was able to significantly reduce the burden on his body.

But he could not maintain his time compression for long, prolonged use of time compression would assault his brain with information and render his brain fatigued. The moment that happened, his body would be paralyzed. Moreover, there was a limit on how fast he could move his body, the faster the movement, the bigger the burden on his body.

Akira’s physical and psychical limits were coming close. The only thing that he could do in that situation was to do everything he could to end the fight before he hit his limit. But even so, after he exerted everything that he had, he was not able to get the upper hand, as a matter of fact, he was at the disadvantage there.

[Dammit!! Why is someone this strong aiming for this shop!? If he’s this strong, he could have aimed for a better shop with better guards!! Is it because of my bad luck!? Goddammit, I’m really unlucky, right?!]

Akira continued fighting while cursing on the back of his mind.

Zalmo drove a straight kick on Akira’s body. Akira saw it as a good chance, it would be hard for Zalmo to keep his distance close after releasing that kick.

If Akira could open some distance, he should be able to grab his AAH rifle and reload a new magazine. He might even be able to use his CWH anti-material rifle which needed him more time to take aim due to its weight.

Akira jumped backwards, Zalmo’s kick did not hit anything and he lost his balance. Although it was only for a split second, he was not able to chase Akira.

Akira thought that he already had that fight in his bag. So he jumped back, opened a space between them, and tried to aim his CWH anti-material rifle at Zalmo. Akira saw Zalmo still with his balance off, but he noticed something and his eyes went wide.

Zalmo still had not recovered his balance, but he had his rifle that he said got destroyed aimed at Akira.

Akira’s augmented suit moved on its own. He stopped trying to aim his CWH anti-material rifle and grabbed the anti-bullet sheet next to him. He then pulled it to block Zalmo’s line of fire.

Zalmo released a barrage at Akira. Countless bullets pierced through the anti-bullet sheet and hit Akira’s body. Thanks to the sheet killing most of the bullets’ momentum, it did not damage Akira much, but it was enough to blow him back. Akira was smacked to the ground. Zalmo did not stop shooting, so Akira hurriedly hid behind a display nearest to him.

Akira complained while hiding himself from the bullets.

“Didn’t you say your rifle got destroyed!?”

Zalmo recovered his balance and smirked.

“Ahh, sorry, my mistake.”

Zalmo’s rifle was not destroyed yet, although it was damaged, it was still functional.

Zalmo shot randomly in Akira’s direction. The displays were covered with a defensive sheet, but they were not that durable. Akira rolled on the ground from one cover to another, avoiding Zalmo’s barrage.

Akira’s expression was grim, he understood that he was getting cornered.

“Alpha, can we do something about it? It would be bad if this continues. I’m hitting my limit soon.”

Akira was in a rather dire situation. He looked pretty desperate thinking of a way to get out of that situation, but in contrast to that, Alpha replied casually as if it was nothing to worry about.

“Is that so? In that case, how about we just go ahead and kill him?”

“...Eh?”

Akira was dumbfounded, he could not help but express his surprise.

“It might be a little bit dangerous, but hang on, okay?”

“A-alright.”

Akira still hadn’t fully shaken off his surprise, while Alpha was smiling just like usual.

Zalmo kept on shooting at Akira who was moving around, he looked like he was having an easy time there. But he found something suspicious, so he heightened his guard.

[That guy adapts perfectly again. I know he thought that he already won this fight when he jumped back from my kick. That expression was not a lie, he did not expect me to shoot back. There’s no mistaking it that he was lured into my trap... So how? Is it because he has a good reflex?]

Zalmo reloaded a new magazine. Right when he did that, Akira used his CWH anti-material rifle from behind a cover and hit Zalmo.

But Zalmo had expected that to happen, he raised one of his arms to block the bullet, Zalmo knew that Akira released a shot from the sound so he immediately activated his forcefield armour. The bullet hit his palm and a flash of blinding light filled the room.

He immediately shot back at Akira but Akira already relocated himself behind another cover. Zalmo then shouted.

“Do you really think that it’ll work with that rifle? Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough.”

Zalmo smiled full of confidence, but deep inside, he was becoming warier of Akira.

Akira had moved according to Alpha’s instruction, but he still was not able to defeat Zalmo. He then asked Alpha with a grim face.

“Alpha, that one didn’t work.”

But Alpha was still smiling like usual, she did not seem perturbed at all.

“Don’t worry, I was able to gather a lot of data from that shot. The next one will end this fight. Akira, you’ll have to do something pretty dangerous, are you ready?”

“Ready when you are!”

The reason why Zalmo did not take cover like Akira was because he had confidence in the force field armour on both of his arms.

Zalmo did not doubt that he had the upper hand, but even so, he did not lower his guard at all. He kept shooting at the display shelves and the sheets hanging from the ceiling, looking for Akira.

[I don’t think I can hit him like this... Does he know where I’m aiming? It seems that those sheets are not only for blocking bullets but can also be used as information-gathering devices, huh. I thought that both of us can’t use our information-gathering device to ascertain each other’s location, but I guess that’s not the case. But if that’s true, then why won’t he shoot from behind the sheet? Is it because that will reveal his location? Or is it that I’m overthinking this?]

Zalmo reloaded his rifle again, and just like last time, Akira jumped out from behind the cover.

It seemed that Akira really knew what Zalmo was doing. Zalmo thought so as he put up his arm to block the incoming bullets.

Since Zalmo had predicted that Akira would shoot, he was taken aback when he noticed that Akira was not aiming at him. Akira had his CWH anti-material rifle pointing, he was holding it with one hand as if he was holding a sword straight forward.

Then at the next moment, Akira’s CWH anti-material rifle suddenly turned. A loud bang echoed quickly followed by a flash of light.

Since Akira shot his CWH anti-material rifle without the proper support, the kickback destroyed the bone on his right arm, his augmented suit immediately stopped working on his broken arm. At least, for the length of this battle, Akira would not be able to use his right arm anymore. He had lost one of his arms.

But in exchange for that, Akira’s shot blew Zalmo’s right arm off. The mechanical parts that were scattered on the ground were all the leftover from Zalmo’s right arm.

Both of them had lost one arm now, Akira and Zalmo stood facing each other. Akira had his CWH anti-material rifle on his left arm aimed at Zalmo. Zalmo extended his left hand to block Akira’s line of fire. Both of them seemed to be desperate as they locked gazes, the first one to move was Zalmo.

Zalmo laughed lightly and said.

“I have no idea where you learnt that from, but just so you know, that’s not how you use a rifle. You lost your arm from that shot, didn’t you? Well, you took one of my arms too, so I guess it’s even, huh. But still, I know that you did that to prevent me from predicting where you’ll shoot, but it’s pretty amazing for you to even think of trying to do that. Thanks to that, I had no other choice but to expand the area of my forcefield armour and reduce its power, but it’s still better than losing my head or having a hole in my body. But again, I didn’t expect you would hit your shot, you know? Not bad at all... That is, if that was your real skill.”

Zalmo smiled provokingly, Akira frowned and replied.

“What do you mean?”

Zalmo casually replied.

“You have someone else controlling your augmented suit, right?”

Akira’s face froze. Seeing that, Zalmo knew that he was correct, he then mockingly said to Akira.

“Hahah, I knew it! I had my suspicion since you can immediately adapt well to what happened even though you don’t look that strong, now I know exactly why! There’s no way a normal Hunter can execute that shot, haha, you overdid it there.”

Akira had a stern face, he then said as if he was putting up a brave front.

“...Even if that’s true, does that help you win this fight?”

“Once I know the trick, I can think of a way to fight back. For example, just like this.”

When he said that, Zalmo immediately jumped back. Akira was about to shoot at the running Zalmo, but he noticed that Zalmo dropped something that looked like a hand grenade, so Akira immediately moved away from it.

The hand grenade looking object immediately filled the area with smoke. Alpha then explained to Akira.

“Akira, it’s jamming smoke. It looks thin but it’s pretty strong.”

“I see, leaving that aside, that shot was not enough to kill him though, did you predict this too? Moreover, he discovered that I’m receiving your support and he said that he knows a way to cut it off, are you sure we’re going to be okay?”

“It’ll be fine. Since he used a jamming smoke, I can pretty much guess what he’s thinking. One thing that I can tell you is that he made a wrong guess. We just need to end him off after he does whatever he has in mind. The fight has basically been decided from what happened just now. The next move will really be the last. Get ready, he’s coming.”

Alpha warned Akira about Zalmo. He saw Zalmo running in his direction.

Akira aimed his CWH anti-material rifle with his left arm, Zalmo raised his left arm in order to block it.

Zalmo smiled, he thought that he had won the fight. Akira pulled the trigger and a gunshot echoed through the room. Everything was the same just like last time until that point, but unlike last time, there was no flash of light.

The bullet that flew out from Akira’s CWH anti-material rifle left a big hole on Zalmo’s body. Zalmo was so surprised by that sudden turn of events.

[...No way!? It was G3 level jamming smoke that’ll even block close-range communication, you know?! So how in the world he can still move his augmented suit...!?]

The jamming smoke that Zalmo used was not for blocking information-gathering devices, but it was to block the augmented suit’s remote controlling.

Zalmo thought that someone outside the room was controlling Akira’s augmented suit. It was impossible to calculate Akira’s movement using the small control device usually installed in augmented suits, but that was not the case for a powerful special control device that was usually installed in a room or in a vehicle.

There was an illusion with using an augmented suit, most people thought that anyone could fight veteran soldiers only by using an augmented suit. That was nothing more than a foolish assumption, but a lot of companies did a lot of research and development in order to get closer to that dream.

Zalmo thought that room was a room for that kind of experiment where some company pitted a slum child with that type of augmented suit against Zalmo’s men. The relic shop was nothing more than just an excuse. If that small boy can repel Zalmo and his men, it would be a good advertisement for that company.

The rumour that there were relics in that shop worth reselling. The rumour of the powerful young Hunters that spread around lately. The fact that Akira did not seem that strong from the outside. All of these reasons caused Zalmo to make that guess.

In that case, if he could cut the connection to Akira’s augmented suit, Akira would turn to just your normal slum boy, it would pose no problem to kill him. Zalmo thought so.

But that assumption was the very reason why Zalmo lost that fight. Before Akira pulled the trigger, Alpha slightly changed his aim. Although it was a slight aim change, it put Akira’s left arm in immense burden and Zalmo could not react fast enough to that.

[It was all just acting then!? It was all to fool me!?]

Zalmo’s guess was almost correct and that truth caused him to get even more surprised.

Zalmo could see Akira standing in front of him holding CWH anti-material rifle that was already aimed at his head. He knew that he had zero chance of evading that, but that did not fill his heart with fear. At the least, it made him feel a bit cornered. The person who was in front of him was way stronger than he expected judging from Akira’s outlook. Zalmo needed to warn his friends about that, but unfortunately, his communication device was already destroyed.

[This boy might get in our way!! I have to tell my brothers about this!! The result of this investigation...]

Before Zalmo could finish his thought, Akira released a shot that tore Zalmo’s head open. Zalmo’s train of thought stopped in an instant as his headless cyborg body fell to the ground with a bang.

Alpha smiled and complemented Akira.

“Good job! That’s the end, it’s alright now.”

Akira released the tension in him and sighed.

“T-that wasn’t easy at all. Why is someone that strong aiming for this shop?”

“Well, you can’t ask him now that he’s dead. So let’s just ask the people that you tried your best to leave alive. They might know something.”

“Tried my best to leave them alive, huh...”

Akira looked at the people who were left alive through his hard work. The result of trying to spare them was that difficult battle.

“...I guess I was too arrogant, huh.”

There were a few things that Akira could not just shake off from what just happened, he regretted the choice that he made.

Being unable to make any other choice but the easiest one was proof of weakness. Whether it was of a good deed or a bad deed, helping or robbing, the one who had the freedom to decide was the stronger one. The one who was helped, and the one who was robbed, they had no choice in that matter. Up until now, Akira was always on the receiving end, the one who had no choice.

Akira tried to be the one who made the decision, he tried to go to the other side, and just now he was shown the price of it.

Alpha tried to cheer Akira up with a smile and said.

“If you really think so, then you need to grow strong enough so that it would be out of leeway rather than arrogance, that way you’ll be able to make your choice when it really matters. To be honest, I think it’s okay to think that it was out of leeway for the 4 people that you spared, you know? For the other 4, unfortunately, that would be arrogance.”

Akira smiled wryly.

“I see, well, if you say so, then I guess it means I’ve grown stronger compared to before.”

Akira still did not have the option to make his own choice, he was still not strong enough to do so. But he was able to keep 4 men alive, it was better than having all 8 of them dead. He was at least able to get closer to another choice other than killing everyone in order to protect himself.